Possible Clues:

• Well-meaning falsehood
• No BAME person would spin such a harmless story
• We are prone to absorb blow as harmless deception
• Supposedly harmless fib
• 'You don't look a day over 30,' perhaps
• Delicate deception
• "Little" deception
• Fib? Fair question, according to Spooner?
• Colourful type describes what the swinger is looking for in good fiction
• Supposedly helpful untruth